jazzbo

Somewhere I have a cdr of the lp of this and must say it is pretty darned good. It's like an Adams session more than a Knepper session to me in that it's looser blowsier than the Knepper led sessions tend to be. . . which is not a bad thing in any way. Now you've managed to live a full life DESPITE not having this so far, and acquiring this won't in any way change that status. You could acquire it and go "Ahhhh. . . " several times and sometimes that is JUST what is NEEDED. (And this could be one of those times).

I asked someone's who's opinion on analog matters I value, and here was his response: " do prefer belt drive and think they're better, because of the precision robust beearings involved most of the time. You don’t usually put a bearing in a diret Drive like that. Same with the related platters being 13lbs and up in weight plus the huge thickness of materials used. The motor is much more isolated offsetting the platter and ran by a belt, tape or string. Micro Seiki made both, the highest end ones in their line were belt drive. The only really exclusive high end Direct Drive Company was Goldmund. AFAIK One last thing, you don’t have to worry about mounting the motor in a Belt Drive table. It seems like better engineering."

I don't think so. It's a matter of taste in a lot of cases, and who is the remastering engineer. XRCD can sound very good. Ten times better (that what?) . . . That sounds like exageration.

I will put in a thumbs up for Alan Lankin's reviews on his jazzmatazz site. I don't always agree with them, which is great, and they always tell me what I need to know about the recordings. I like the writing of that "A music fan" a lot. I contributed some reviews to the Mosaic site. . . . I like those because they don't list who the contributor is! I got amazing words of praise from a real bonafide excellent reviewer I admire immensely for a review I did of the Eddie Gale Blue Notes reissued on Water. . . I was floored and awed and felt so good, though I don't think it was deserved! I am proud of the reviews though because it's so damned hard for me to write within AAJ's "guidelines" (I personally disagree with their general slant) and they seemed to think I pulled it off. I've given up since. Here's the Water reviews if anyone is interested. Eddie Gale on Water

My general consensus from audiophiles is that most of the diehards prefer belt drives. . . They feel these are on better tables and that may be true: at the higher price points it seems that belt drives are employed in the last decade or two. I've had both, and each table I have had had pluses and minuses and I'll be damned if I could point to the belt or direct drive as responsible ultimately for either advantages or disadvantages.

At least it's not Victor (Japan) BMG. . . that would be Victor/Victoria!

No wonder his smile looks so damned good!

Sound Quality: very very good. Liner notes: didn't inspire me to read the new ones. . .yet! I've been in a "liner notes, shminer notes" mood the last half a year or so. Just not into reading them with any gusto. Music: Some very cool stuff. Just wish "Bossa Nova USA" had been differently titled so that it could have been included; one of my very favorites! . . . "Bossa Nova TIME USA" maybe?

I voted FOR the second great quintet for several reasons. One is that it doesn't have that much that's really new to ME, and it is the music of Miles offered here that I have listened to the most, tied with the Bitches Brew box, which offered more music and information that was new to ME. Secondly is that I've been lucky to purchase cheaply DSD cds from Sony of nearly the entire box that is available on Sony cd, and they sound better than the box set sounds to me, and I listen to those more often when I reach for this material. But I still treasure the set and put it on now and then and read portions of the booklet.

Or The Man With Too Many Names (B). B)

Spell! Spell who? W.H.O.

I only saw Basie once, and it was before I really understood and appreciated its brilliance and history. It was at a Catholic church in south side Chicago in 1975. I enjoyed the show, but I remember it as rather sedate. . . . It was an afternoon recital at a church, and short and sweet. Plus I was distracted by the fact that the gal that I was so crazy about (NOW my wife Helen) was there with someone else (I hadn't gotten the nerve to ask her to this one) and I kept watching them on the sly when I could. Wish I had seen the band again!

Hey, rong is wrong! Point well taken though about "Blue Note" being used as a title for compliations including selections under the EMI "Blue Note umbrella." It's one thing to issue them under the label, another to title a compilation as if they all originated from the label. This is not part of my collection. I deliberated long and hard before buying "Helen Merrill Sings the Beatles" a few months ago. I'm a crazy fool for Helen Merrill. . . still . . . . I don't regret the purchase, but couldn't it have been. . . Townsend or Dyaln or something?

Well. . . I think the answer would lie in how and where you want to go. If you want to become a Charlie Christian completist, I recommend as your next step the excellent four cd set on Columbia that issues all his recordings for that label including some newly discovered items. It is pretty reasonably priced, has really good sound (can sound pretty bright in some systems. . . ) and a very informative booklet.

Guilty. Doing penance. . . for quite some time.

I'm pretty much with Simon (on the obsession level!) I'm looking forward to two cds of interviews . . . . I have more than that on the recent Ayler "tree" of interviews of musicians that worked with Ayler, and really enjoy listening and RElistening to those. So I'm sure I'll be delighted to hear these two cds! It DOES add to the cost of the set, and I wish there were two more cds of music too. . . to make an eleven cd set! I'll continue to go deeper into debt to have this set. . . .

Interesting that you felt that way. Tower Austin closed it's doors Sunday; I was in at the middle of the afternoon and bought an eight cd set on RCA Red Seal of the Guarneri Quartet recordings of Beethoven String Quartets. With the discount it was 32 dollars. . . . I've had many nice purchases like that and many nice hours of browsing in that store. It seemed to invite me to appreciate music and look at new things. I don't feel that at Waterloo here in town or heaven forbid at the mall. I think this is a sort of "end" to a particular type of hunting and collecting and acquiring "feeling" in my life in this town!

Hey every Monday I'm even older that that!

I have to confess, I haven't had this problem with enough frequency to even have wanted to develop a strategy, let alone come up with a solution for dealing with it. I find that the fact that I have been exploring almost all the forks in the jazz road since 1917 means I have plenty of things beckoning me to listen, and I have a collection too large to manage with always something to hear thats new or to listen to again . . . . I guess I'll continue to count my blessings. B)

Hey RCA put out Fats and Glenn Miller "best of cds" that come with a dvd! Now won't that hold you til the sequicentennial?

RT, in the late nineties Columbia imported and released to the bins for sale a series of Miles Davis Sony discs and I believe these may have been the ones you saw in Best Buy . . . .

Cosey has recorded with a Japanese saxophonist whose name I can never remember and Bill Laswell in the last few years; haven't heard it but I bet it's great. I enjoy his pre-Miles playing on John Klemmer's "Blowing Gold" on Chess.

I have a Japanese cd of Swedish Shnappes and no strings are onboard. . . . Great stuff! Jazz Perennial includes the session with Gil Evans that is controversial (in that some love it, some don't like it, I love it). Fiesta. . . it has the small groups "latin" sides. I like it. Probably don't play these that often. . . .

Kellaway is a great player, I have the lp that Jim mentions, and many others. . .he's unsung and needs to be sung! This morning I was listening to him play very very well on Dick Sudhalter's Challenge cd "Melodies Heard". . . .

I have this material on Xanadu lps and I agree: this is wonderful material and thanks for the reminder to dig these out and listen to them soon!